Thank you Steve, for giving us the chance to walk next to Spirit during her journey.

Dammit, now I'm going to be a blubbering fool all morning.

--------------------

Space Enthusiast Richard Hendricks --"The engineers, as usual, made a tremendous fuss. Again as usual, they did the job in half the time they had dismissed as being absolutely impossible." --Rescue Party, Arthur C ClarkeMother Nature is the final inspector of all quality.

Awwwww.......*Sniff*The day has finally come. I always said I wouldn't consider Spirit dead until Mr. Squyres said she was gone. I guess the time is now.Good job little friend, you did better than anyone would have thought. 90 days!? HA! That will show them. Sister Oppy will continue your journey running across he plains of Meridiani! Go Oppy Go!

SPIRIT... what a trek you gave us, little friend. I remember when they named you. How abt tthe name. How glorous the journey.

You are our avatar. A machine made from love and deep skill. A machine like you is more than the sum of it's parts. A soul is born, a unique soul. From the team. The engineers and scientists and managers that made you a whole.

Some distant future.... perhaps in the later years of my grandsons... humans from Earth will find and finally free you.

Spirit... made it to the hilltop, and showed us what was on the other side.

Thanks and congratulations to all the engineers and scientists who put her together and made her run.Thanks and congratulations to every technician who wrapped a cable or tightened a screw. Just. Right.They really did hit a home run!

Those "faraway" hills, and then they were growing and growing on the images to finally become ground under the wheels.Climbing day after day, to one day have an unforgettable 360 degrees view of the far horizon.The "abyss". It finally was a dune field; but it was a lot of fun imagining caves or sink holes (thanks Ustrax / Rui).Running to Home Plate. A feature that once was just a name on a picture taken from orbit but afterwards it was not only a place fully studied from left to right / north to south, but also was a place for a remarkable barbecue.

And I will have to repeat again what was already said on most of the posts on this threat, but it is just the truth: thanks for all the people working on the MER mission for this unforgettable experience!

"I want to make as many people as possible feel like they are part of this adventure. We are going to give everybody a sense of what exploring the surface of another world is really like" - Steven Squyres

So farewell, Spirit, *sniff*. It was a long interesting and exciting time. Thanks also to the Team for making this mission possible.

Also from me, thank you for the "Spirit" along all these years. I first noticed the MER mission on a television documentation in 2002, thats just about 9 years. and so its part of my life. And it is still a fascinating story with the best things just to come.

And to say it in the words of John Cleese: "Spirit is no more! She has ceased to be! She's expired and gone to meet her maker! She kicked the bucket, hopped the twig, bit the dust. Bereft of life she rests in peace. This is an Ex-Rover". Bye, bye...

Sleep well Spirit, and hold the fort for us! We are coming next!Our descendants will no doubt dome your whole journey, from your lander to your Home sweet Home plate, turning it into the Spirit-Gusev Museum.Good night little Martian.

IMAGE COPYRIGHT
Images posted on UnmannedSpaceflight.com may be copyrighted.
Do not reproduce without permission. Read
here for further information on space images and copyright.

OPINIONS AND MODERATION
Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the
individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions
of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer
UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent
of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence
over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators.

SUPPORT THE FORUM
Unmannedspaceflight.com is a project of the Planetary Society
and is funded by donations from visitors and members. Help keep
this forum up and running by contributing
here.